Simon Cowell to start making children’s movies now

Despite the fact that Simon Cowell’s legacy is tied to launching numerous televised singing contests—many of which involve him berating young hopefuls who come to him for validation—Cowell is making more and more inroads toward trying to make those same young people happy. Last year, his Syco production company took its first step into the film world with One Direction: This Is Us. Now, given the success of the 3-D rockumentary, Cowell has set his sights on the even more lucrative market of children’s entertainment by partnering with Animal Logic—the company responsible for visual effects in The Lego Movie and Happy Feet—to produce a series of children’s movies.

The multi-project deal will meld Cowell’s musical knowledge with Animal Logic’s graphics to create animated and live-action films, the first of which is already scheduled for release in 2016. There are no details yet about what that first production will actually be—but given the sort of fare that Cowell has built a career on, it’s possible it will be a musical homage to how the most talented, beautiful people deserve to live in a world of splendor, while everyone else should be treated like the pieces of human garbage they are.